Thanks for that info FN. Does Rodney de Souza have an email address. Talking of village nicknames, my ancestral home was known as Dhobekar-agher.
Apparently, my grandfather needed a way to keep away the foxes coming down this side of the Siolim hill from destroying the produce and poultry on the property. He devised an alarm-and-protection system by rigging a series of empty tins on the mango tree branches. When the dogs barked he pulled the rope next to his bed and set off all the tins rattling against each other, making a cacophony of sound that would not only drive off the foxes but also wake up Socolvaddo from whatever they were or were not doing. All possible curses from the vaddo were somewhat alleviated by allowing them to use our house well that never dried and that provided the purest water for miles around no matter with what parching and drought the village was afflicted. I am sure Eric Pinto whose mother's house in Assagao had its own nickname, would also have an interesting anecdote to tell. I remember the important features of the house were a) the rectangular hall at the head of which was a portrait of "Dom Manuel Segundo -Rei de Portugal (always wondered why this king and this king only) b) grandmother's own bedroom (wonder whether they slept in separate beds or that he died before her). This was the room that contained the choicest fenis in crystal decanters that I don't remember being offered to me, under the mistaken assumption I was too young and c) the attic that was full of African spears, masks and other strange artifacts, large dried coconuts from Thailand and the Philippines and a wooden chest full of pottery design-painted with Indies-blue that probably came from Macau and China. When the house came down during a storm and by the time my father made the trip from Bombay on hearing about it, there was nothing left to salvage. Even the walls were broken down and taken away for the stones. Who says we can only blame the "outsiders" for all the robbing and plundering of homes in Goa? This was much before December 1961. Roland Toronto. -----Original Message----- From: goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org [mailto:goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org] On Behalf Of Frederick FN Noronha ???????? ???????? *??????? ??????? Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 3:38 PM To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! Subject: [Goanet] Book on Assagao. Was: Happy Birthday Domnic Fernandes Roland, Rodney de Souza has a book published on Assagao. See below. This is self-published, so the best place to find it is probably with the author (and I think OIBS, at Mapusa). FN But that's not all. There's a birthing centre in Assagao too, which offers "natural" deliveries. This book is a mix of the new and the old. One interesting if brief chapter is about nicknames in the village -- Girgirea-ger, Bamni-ger (a family of Brahmins with a female head!), Shaulea-ger, Chaukara-ger, Bandmasteri-ger and more.